More on the break-in at Murfin's in Marionville

You've got to read Kathee Baird's account of the break-in at Murfin's in
Marionville. Great detail. Here's the link:

http://crimesceneinvestigations.blogspot.com/2010/01/murfins-market-sustains-heavy-damage-in.html

Doug Stroemel will lead St. Johns-Aurora & Cassville

The Aurora Advertiser reports:

Officials with St. John's Hospital--Aurora announced on January 29 that
Doug Stroemel accepted the position of president for St. John's West Region.

In this position, he will focus on hospital operations in Aurora and
Cassville. He has served as vice-president/chief operating officer at
St. John's Hospital–Aurora since 2007.

Here's the link to the rest of the details:

http://www.auroraadvertiser.net/newsnow/x1920347111/Stroemel-will-lead-hospital

Woman struck in Lawrence county

A Springfield woman who stopped to assist another motorist Friday night
suffered serious injuries after being hit Friday on Interstate 44 in
Lawrence County.

Amber Harper, 30, was taken to St. John's Hospital in Springfield.

According to a report from the Missouri Highway Patrol, a Chevrolet HHR
driven by Pittsburg, Kan., resident Jayne Palmer, 22, was stuck in the
median around 7:27 p.m. Harper's vehicle stopped on the road, and she
got out to assist.

Then a 2008 Chevrolet van driven by Glenda Fleener, 51, of Waynesville
swerved to avoid hitting Harper's vehicle. The van hit the HHR, and then
Harper, who was walking in the median.

This accident was one of many that happened during the height of a
snowstorm Friday night along I-44.

(Some of this information came from the Springfield News-Leader)

Barry county girl falls into pond

KY3 reports on a Barry county youngster who was playing on a frozen pond
and fell in.
She is apparently recovering in a Springfield hospital.

http://www.ky3.com/news/local/83183137.html

More on accidents

915pm
Accidents continue around the area. The latest is a slide-off on
highway 60 just west of Marionville. A vehicle was on the way to the
hopsital with a person having chest pain when they ran off the road.
Ambulance and rescue moving that way.

More on burglary at Murfins

Kathee Baird tells us more details about the burglary at Murfins from
the Tri-Country Sentinel.
http://www.tri-countysentinel.com/

Update on accidents along I-44

As the snow began to fall heavier about 7pm tonight, the number of
accidents, especially along I-44, began to increase rapidly. St. Johns
ambulances, Mt. Vernon rescue, and Lawrence county deputies were trying
to get to one accident, and were encountering numerous accidents and
slide offs on the way.
There are a number of accidents that appear to have injuries.
---Developing----

Burglar 'hits' grocery store at Marionville

KY3 News reports:

MARIONVILLE, Mo. -- A bold burglar hit the Murfin's Market on Friday. He
did a lot of damage but didn't get away with any cash.

The unusual series of events began early Friday morning.

"I got a phone call about 6:20 from the manager," said owner Chuck Murfin.

Employees say it looked like the front of the grocery store exploded. It
turns out a tree-trimming truck rammed through the wall about 5:30.
Police say it was stolen from Wright Tree Trimming Service.

Here's the link to the rest of the story and video from KY3....

http://www.ky3.com/home/video/83079077.html

CHamber banquet postoned

Shannon Walker of the Aurora Chamber of Commerce reports
Just wanted to let everyone know that the Annual Aurora Chamber of
Commerce Appreciation Banquet has been cancelled for tomorrow
(1/30/2010) it will be held on Feb 27th due to the weather.. you ticket
will still be honored for the reschedule... Please notify your ticket
holders of the change...

Numerous accidents

Heavy snow is falling in the area at 730pm.
Ambulances, rescue and deputies are reporting to numerous accidents on
I-44.
At least one pedestrian has been hit by a car and is in the ditch.
It's pretty crazy along the interstate right now.

Upcoming election filings

The Lawrence County Record reports filings for the upcoming April 6th
elections

Aurora R-8

Aurora R-8 School District patrons have four candidates to choose from
for two seats on the board.

Incumbents Carolyn Swartz and Charles Foltz seek re-election and face
opposition from Steve Bryan and Melanie Mayberry.

Here's the link to the full story.
http://www.lawrencecountyrecord.com/articles/2010/01/29/news/doc4b5f55ac42529712647722.txt

2 arrested on drug charges in Aurora

The Aurora Advertiser reports 2 were arrested in Aurora on drug charges.
Here's the link.

http://www.auroraadvertiser.net/news/x1920343088/Aurora-Police-Beat

Lawrence county deputy possible shots fired

http://www.tri-countysentinel.com/ , along with other media outlets are
reporting that a Lawrence County deputy may have heard shots last night
(Monday) when he approached a suspicious group of people at a
cemetery. He gave chase, but stopped when he thought he heard shots
fired. The investigation is continuing.
Another version of the story is in the Springfield News-Leader. here's
a link.
http://www.news-leader.com/article/20100127/BREAKING01/100127015/Lawrence-County-officers-seek-four-after-cemetery-incident

Accident on highway 39

About 835pm, rescue crews were called to an accident on highway 39,
south of the bridge near Lawrence County 2160 between Aurora and Mt.
Vernon. It was a one car crash, where the vehicle went off the west
side of the road and over an embankment. When rescue crews arrived, the
vehicle was upright and the occupants were walking around. St. Johns
ambulance was called to check out the occupants.  No one was trasnported
to the hospital.

LCBDD Open house

The Lawrence County Board for the Developmentally Disabled had an Open House Wednesday afternoon at their new location at the corner of Oak & Elm Streets in Aurora.
The building is the former Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, and was purchased recently by the LCBDD.  The church is planning to build a new structure on South Carnation in Aurora in March.
Director of the LCBDD, George Woodward, said the organization is thrilled with their new facility, and says it will better serve the needs of disabled residents of the Aurora area.
The Lawrence County Board for the Developmentally Disabled is a tax-supported organization.  The board  provides  service programs, personal service assistance and  personal equipment for the developmentally disabled.
Programs at the center include games, crafts music groups, music therapy, and craft days.

Update on Stoops problems

Jan 20 -1000am
Smoke was seen coming from the Stoops Manufacturing building in central
Aurora this morning as workers from Empire District electric were trying
to restore power to the building. Employees from the company were told
not to come in this morning, as work had continued throughout the night to
try and restore electric service to the building.
As mentioned previously, the building used to be an industrial
plant, and had significant utility service to run the equipment.
While most of that service is currently unused,  apparently, much of it was still
connected. When the equipment failed yesterday, power blinked off to
much of north Aurora.
There has been no word yet as to when the problem would be corrected,
or when the employees would be able to return to work.
Stoops Manufacturing makes leather bookbags, purses and other leather
goods, and also imports similar items. They ship worldwide from the
Aurora facility, and have an outlet store in front of the building.

Electric problem at Stoops Manufacturing

Jan 19-
About 445pm this afternoon, lights flickered in most of the north side
of Aurora. It turned out to be the failure of an electrical panel in
the Stoops Manufacturing building, just north of the railroad.
Stoops Manufacturing is in the building once occupied by Southwest
manufacturing, which made heating and air conditioning equipment. The
building had substantial power lines in it, due to the former
manufacturing equipment.
From eyewitness accounts, the electrical system was seriously damaged,
and will have to repaired before Stoops can reopen.

LCDBB schedules open house in new facility

The Lawrence County Board for the Developmental Disabled is having an
open house in their new facility.
The event is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Here's a story from the
Aurora Advertiser.

http://www.auroraadvertiser.net/news/business/x532579188/Group-plans-an-open-house

-

Sex Offender map on the new Sheriff's website

Here's a story from the Lawrence county record about about the Lawrence
County sheriff's department website.
It features a map of area registred sex offenders.

http://www.lawrencecountyrecord.com/articles/2010/01/18/news/doc4b4d09c358b75893434084.txt

--

Marionville Audit

From KTTS.COM

Folks in Marionville who have a problem with the way city government
spends its money can address those concerns with the state auditor. As
Susan Montee begins her audit of both city hall and city court, a toll
free hot line has been up at 800-347-8597. Those who want to communicate
with an e-mail can click here. All information will be kept confidential.

---------------------------------------------
This message was sent using Mo-Net Webmail.
http://web.mo-net.com/webmail/

Pat Jenkins will serve at Aurora interim police chief

We heard a few days ago that Pat Jenkins will be serving as interim
police chief, until a replacement can be found.
Here is a link to the Aurora Advertiser's story about it.

http://www.auroraadvertiser.net/news/x1793472965/Jenkins-will-serve-as-interim-chief

Monett McDonald's burns down

About 2pm this afternoon, Monett fire was called to a fire at the
McDonalds on highway 60 in Monett. Shortly thereafter, Aurora City &
Rural Fire were called to help. No details on the fire at this time,
but scanner traffic would indicate a serious fire. The zero degree
weather would also be a big hindrance to the fire fighting efforts.
400pm.- Reports from the scene indicated that the roof has caved in, and
the building is probably going to be a total loss.

KY3 has more on the story, including pictures
http://www.ky3.com/news/local/81023637.html

Winter Storm update

A WINTER STORM WILL TRACK THROUGH THE PLAINS INTO THE OZARKS
TODAY INTO THURSDAY. SNOW DEVELOPING IN EASTERN KANSAS AND
NORTHWEST MISSOURI WILL GRADUALLY SPREAD INTO SOUTHEAST KANSAS
AND PARTS OF WEST CENTRAL AND CENTRAL MISSOURI THIS AFTERNOON AND
CONTINUE TO SPREAD SOUTHEAST THROUGH THE REST OF SOUTHWEST
MISSOURI LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. THE SNOW WILL TAPER OFF
FROM WEST TO EAST THURSDAY. THE BULK OF THE SNOW IS EXPECTED TO
FALL LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. A WIDESPREAD SNOWFALL
ACCUMULATION OF 2 TO 5 INCHES IS EXPECTED WITH LOCALLY HIGHER
AMOUNTS POSSIBLE. THE HIGHEST SNOWFALL AMOUNTS ARE ANTICIPATED
OVER CENTRAL MISSOURI. WIND GUSTS OF 30 TO 35 MPH WILL PRODUCE
BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW ALONG WITH REDUCED VISIBILITY AT
TIMES...ESPECIALLY IN OPEN EXPOSED TERRAIN WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND
THURSDAY MORNING. STRONG NORTHWEST WINDS WILL PRODUCE DANGEROUSLY
COLD WEATHER WITH WIND CHILL VALUES OF MINUS 10 TO MINUS 20
DEGREES AT TIMES THURSDAY AND FRIDAY.

Aurora man will be sentenced

'From Kathee Baird's news blog
http://crimesceneinvestigations.blogspot.com/2010/01/aurora-man-found-guilty-of-second.html


A man from Aurora who beat up a couple of employees at Wal-Mart after he was caught stealing will be sentenced in February.

Lawrence County Prosecutor Robert George says that it took a jury about eighty minutes to return with a guilty verdict against Ben C.Sitton for second-degree robbery.

Sitton stole an energy drink, a pair of boxers and attempted to steal a bottle of cologne in January of 2009 when he was confronted by store employees as he was leaving the store.

Sitton at first cooperated with employees and began to walk to the loss prevention office, then he bolted for the door. An attempt by loss prevention officer Melissa Friend and another male employee to stopSitton from leaving the store was unsuccessful.

Friend was able to catch up with Sitton and grab a hold of his clothing but Sitton "hit her in the chest causing her to lose her grip," according to George.

Sitton, who has previous convictions for stealing, resisting arrest and possession of a controlled substance, is facing between two and fifteen years in prison for the Wal-Mart is facing a sentence of between two and fifteen years for the robbery conviction when he is sentenced in February.

Aurora-Marionville argue over highway 60

http://www.auroraadvertiser.net/news/x1437797541/Council-disapproves

In this article from the Aurora Advertiser, the Aurora City council
voted recently to express their dissatisfaction with Marionville
extending their city limits along highway 60, almost the railroad
bridge, just east of the Aurora City Limits.

---My comment----
What's the deal with this? I've noticed on my last drive to Monett that
the city limits of Verona extends over several miles of highway 60,
either side of the Spring River bridge. Now, Marionville wants to
annex a big chunk of highway 60, east of Aurora.
Why is this happening? I'm sure a lot of people would say that they
want to create 'speed traps' along highway 60 to benefit their cities.
Whatever happened to the "Macks Creek" law that took affect a few years
ago? Remember, the town of Macks Creek, along highway 54, where a
notorious speed trap existed for many years. They apparently pulled
over too many state legislators on the way to Jefferson City. The
lawmakers passed a law that limited any city's income from speeding
tickets. It bankrupted Macks Creek, which became 'dis-incorporated'.
So, if Marionville and Verona intended to gain more income from speeding
tickets, there could be an issue with that.
What is going on?
Your thoughts are welcome.

Pat Jenkins will be Aurora Interim Police Chief

The Tri-county Sentinel Reports-

http://www.tri-countysentinel.com/

The City of Aurora has an interim police chief, according to Thomas H. Palmer, Interim City Manager;


"With the retirement of Rick Batson as Police Chief, I am appointing Captain Pat Jenkins as Interim Police Chief effective January 8, 2010," he stated in a notification to the city's mayor and board.

Captain Jenkins has twenty-five years experience with the Aurora Police Department and has been Captain since July 1994. She has served as Interim Chief two previous times during those years. I appointed Captain Jenkins as Interim Chief back in late 2002 before Rick Batson was hired and she served until the spring of 2003. Captain Jenkins did an excellent job for the City of Aurora at that time and I am sure that with her many years of experience, she will do an excellent job again.

Captain Jenkins will serve in this position until the new City Manager completes the hiring process for a new Chief